Like A Deer Caught In The Headlights
by Daddysgirl11
Summary: On the night of the full moon, James finds himself in a rather sticky situation. When Lily and her friends stumble upon an injured deer, James has to decide whether to transform in front of them, or stay a deer for as long as they're around. But Lily isn't one to back down when she sees any living thing is injured...


**I don't know if anyone's already had this idea, but I thought it'd be incredibly cute if James was stuck in a sticky situation like this with Lily….**

 **I don't own Harry Potter**

* * *

Lily Evans knew she oughtn't be out this late, especially on the grounds, but the full moon was just beautiful tonight and her friends, Mary and Marlene, had wanted to take a night stroll. So Lily, being Head Girl and probably able to get away with it, agreed to go with them, and she couldn't have been happier that she had.

"Oh look, a deer!" Mary suddenly squealed.

Marlene shushed her. "Mary, don't scare it away!"

Lily wasn't paying attention to her friends, however. "What a beautiful stag," she whispered.

The other two looked at her. Marlene frowned. "What are you…?"

"My patronus is a doe," Lily said, as if this was an explanation. "He's gorgeous."

Lily made as if to move towards the stag, but Mary threw out an arm to stop her. "No, Lils, it's a wild animal. Don't scare it!"

"Him," Lily corrected her. She squinted at the stag in the distance. He was utterly still, looking back at them. "Look, he's seen us."

Lily started forward again. Both her friends hissed her name, but Lily held a hand out behind her. "Wait," she whispered.

Lily crept forward until she was just feet from the stag. It didn't move. Lily frowned, suddenly thoughtful. "Something's wrong," she said, just loud enough for her two friends to hear.

Slowly, they moved to stand beside Lily, but the stag stepped back a few steps. Mary and Marlene paused.

"You do it, Lils," Marlene said suddenly. "I...I think it likes you."

"Of course _he_ does," Lily said. "It's just nature. He's a stag, my patronus is a doe. I'm sure if I registered to become an animagus, I'd be a doe."

Mary looked doubtful. "See if he'll let you come closer."

Lily shrugged. She moved slowly, carefully forward. The stag didn't flinch. She motioned the others forward. He backed up.

"Well that's lovely," Marlene said sarcastically, her short blonde hair falling in her face as she shook her head.

Lily started forward again, and motioned for her friends to stay back. "Hey there," she said quietly, bending down right in front of the stag. She held her hand out tentatively, and the stag stuck his head out. Lily smiled and petted his head. He seemed to lean into her hand.

"Would you look at that." Mary was putting her long brown hair up in a pony tail, looking at the scene in utter amazement.

Lily wasn't paying her any attention. "You're a good boy, aren't you?" She scratched him behind his ear. "Yes you are, you're a good boy!"

"Lily, he's not a dog," Marlene said, exasperated.

"I know that." Lily rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the stag. "It's not just dogs that should get praise, huh, boy?"

"Merlin…" Marlene muttered.

Lily was still smiling. An idea struck her, and she thought it would be immensely funny if James Potter, the Head Boy, were to ever find out what she decided to call this deer. "I'm gonna call him Prongs."

Mary and Marlene only looked at each other.

"You're naming a deer after Potter?" Marlene said slowly.

"You hate him," Mary added.

"I do not hate Potter." Lily rolled her eye, still petting the stag who seemed to be enjoying her company. "He knows that too, doesn't he Prongs? As much as I try, I just don't hate him as much as I should."

The other two girls were looking on in bewilderment. "Maybe we shouldn't have kept her out so late," Mary whispered. "She's becoming delusional."

Lily glanced down at the stag-no, Prongs-and she noticed he was only standing on three of his legs. "What's wrong with your hoof Prongs?" She asked.

It was bleeding. It looked like he'd been bitten.

"Oh no," Lily muttered. "Can you walked?"

It was odd, but it seemed the stag could understand her. Prongs tried to limp forward, but sat down seconds later.

"Oh no, oh no!" Lily fell to her knees and wrapped an arm around Prongs. "Don't worry Prongs, we'll get you to the castle and fix that leg."

"We'll what?" Mary and Marlene were looking at her like she was insane.

"You're joking, right?" Marlene said hopefully. Lily gave her a look.

Mary let out a squeal. "We can't bring a deer up to our dorm room!"

"Of course we can, and we will," Lily repeated determinedly. "Now, how about the two of you help me lug him up there?"

* * *

Sirius Black was still laughing as he made his way up to the infirmary with Peter the morning after the full moon. Remus had passed out right after he transformed back into himself, and Sirius hadn't been able to tell him what had happened the night before.

"Hey Moony, how ya feeling?" Sirius asked, sitting at the end of Remus's hospital bed. Peter pulled up the single chair that was beside the bed.

"Like a hippogriff is stomping on my chest." Remus groaned as he tried to sit up. He looked around him, evidently confused. "Where's Prongs? I didn't…"

"No, of course not," Sirius said hastily, pushing his friend back against his pillows. "No, mate, Prongs is just fine. Probably feeling better now than he has in a long time."

Peter sniggered.

"What am I missing?" Remus frowned.

"You tell him," Peter said, grinning. "I won't be able to keep a straight face."

Sirius shook his head. "Well, we were down on the grounds, not far into our journey to Hogsmeade, when Prongs tripped and twisted his ankle-er, wrist, I guess." Sirius laughed. "Well, it would have been easy enough for him to turn back into himself, fix the sprain and join us in the village. Except, he never actually got that far."

"Why? What happened?" Remus still thought he might've hurt James, and Sirius was taking forever with this story.

"Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, and Mary MacDonald happened," said Peter, grinning.

Remus shot up again. "They were on the grounds? Why? Did I hurt them? Did I…?"

Remus looked desperately around the infirmary for a clue that one of the girls, or James, was there.

Sirius pushed him back down again, this time glaring at Peter. "Wormtail, let me tell the story. Don't give Moony a heart attack."

"What happened?" Remus asked again, needing to know, needing to be sure he hadn't hurt an innocent classmate.

Sirius glanced at Peter again, giving him a look as if daring him to speak, before saying, "You didn't hurt anyone, Moony. This story isn't even about you. Our part of the story went as well as can be expected when you're running with the wolves. You understand that, right Moony? You understand that you didn't hurt anyone?"

Remus nodded slowly.

"And you won't interrupt the rest of the story?"

Again, Remus nodded.

Sirius smiled again. "Good, because you're going to want to hear this. So, we were at Prongs twisting his ankle. Well, he couldn't transform because Lily, Mary and Marlene walked up. It was hilarious, they kept going on about how he was 'such a pretty deer'. But no one loved him as much as Lily."

Now Remus knew exactly why Sirius was so happy. "What did he do?"

"Ah, Moony, you interrupt me again." Sirius let out a dramatic sigh. "Well, what can you do? Anyway, James, the prat, would let Lily come near him and pet him, but would back away if the others tried to. Except, you know, when Lily decided she needed help dragging him up to their dormitory to fix up his leg. And you'll never believe what she's decided to call him."

"What?" Remus asked, trying (and failing) not to laugh.

"Prongs. She named him after James, because she's heard us using it before and thinks it's hilarious."

"This is honestly the best thing I've ever heard.'

Peter leaned forward. "Can I talk now?"

"No," Sirius snapped. "You upset Moony."

"I'm not upset-"

"Shush, dear," Sirius said. "The adults are talking."

"Sounds like you're quarreling."

"We're having a civil dispute."

"You mostly just yelled at Wormy."

"I did not!"

"Now who's the child?"

"Guys!" Peter groaned. The other two Marauders turned towards him. "Has anyone noticed that James still hasn't returned?"

* * *

"You're a pretty stag, Prongs, aren't you? Yes you are. Yes you are!"

"Lily, go back to bed," groaned Marlene.

Lily rolled her eyes and continued to play with the stag, now all bandaged up, on her bed.

"Did that thing sleep with you?" asked one of Lily's other roommates, Amanda Dearborn.

Lily put her hands over the stag's ears. "Don't call him a 'thing' Mandy, you'll hurt his feelings!"

"Make it stop!" Marlene pushed a pillow over her face, as if it would block out the sound.

"It's nearly eight, you should be up anyway," Lily said hotly.

"I can't believe you slept with a deer," Mary called from the bathroom. "You have no clue where he's been!"

"Or what he tastes like," barked their fifth roommate, Valerie Hindersburg. Valerie was a major tomboy who had been brought up by muggles, so naturally, she liked deer meat.

Lily nearly threw up at the mention. "I can't believe you'd even think of slaying such a beautiful creature."

"If it keeps me awake for another night, I might eat it raw."

Lily made a face at her and tightened her hold on Prongs. "Don't worry Progsy, she won't hurt you. You'll be back with your deer friends in no time. But you can visit me any time you want."

"But please don't," said Valerie. Amanda nodded.

"Go get breakfast, then, if you don't like him," Lily snapped.

"Lils, we think he's a beautiful deer-"

"Stag," Lily corrected Marlene again.

"Same difference." Marlene waved a hand dismissively. "We know he's pretty, but you can't keep him. You gotta let him go. Who knows, maybe he'll come back? You know what they say. 'If you love something, set it free; if it comes back-'"

"It's yours," Lily finished for her.

Marlene nodded. "And if it doesn't…"

Lily shrugged and Marlene made a face.

"'It was never yours in the first place'," Valerie said, rolling her eyes. "Merlin, Marlene, do you have to use muggle clichés? We grew up on those!"

"I didn't," Marlene said, shrugging. "Just you, Lils and Mary. I only know because of you lot."

"Well we 'lot'," said Valerie, gesturing between herself and Amanda, "are going down to breakfast. Join us, Lily, when your brain has reentered your head."

"I am as well," said Mary, coming out of the bathroom.

"Same," said Marlene.

They all looked at Lily who shook her head. "I think I'm going for a walk."

They left her, all muttering about how crazy she was, but Lily didn't care. She liked this stag. He was like a little puppy, and he seemed to like her too.

"You'll come back to me, won't you?" Lily asked quietly. "You're a nice stag. I think you'll come back to me."

Prongs was looking at her with wide eyes. Lily finally understood why some girls were referred to as 'doe eyed'.

Lily leaned forward and hugged the deer. "I'm going to miss you, Prongs. You've been a good friend."

Prongs laid his head on her lap. Lily smiled.

* * *

"How do we get up there?" Peter asked tentatively.

Sirius shook his head. "Man up, Wormtail, it's just the girls' dormitory."

"Yes, but no man has ever made it up there. Slides, you know?"

"Oh Wormy." Sirius laughed. "You see, this is why people hate purebloods. You do realize that most muggle children love climbing up the slide before going down it? They don't like the latter. The latter is no fun is in the challenge, and the challenge is getting up."

Peter shook his head. "You are a man of many mysterious, Padfoot, and I commend you for it. Now how do we get up there to save our friend who is currently in deer form up in Lily Evans bedroom?"

Sirius grinned. "That may be my new favorite sentence ever."

He put one foot on the steps to the girls' dormitories and watched as it turned into a slide. He smirked. "Alright Petey, up we go."

Peter whined a lot, but followed Sirius as the idiot clambered his way up the slide to the very top. Peter slipped three or four times, but eventually made it up.

Sirius knocked on the door marked 'Seventh Years'.

"Who is it?"

The voice was obviously Lily's. Sirius pulled out his two way mirror and said, very quietly, "Remus Lupin."

Remus's face appeared in James's mirror, and he, too, was grinning. "Get up the slide, did you?"

"Hello?" Lily said. "Is someone there?"

Sirius nodded towards the door, and Remus said, quite loudly, "It's Remus, Lily, can I come in?"

A pause. "Um….I'm sort of busy at the moment."

Sirius mouthed for Remus to try again.

Sighing, Remus said, "Please, Lily? We know about the deer."

There was a much longer pause, and then the door opened slowly. "How did you get up here?" Lily asked of Sirius and Peter. "And where's Remus?"

"He's here," Sirius said grinning. He held up the two way mirror, and Remus waved at Lily. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Did the two of you climb the slide?"

"It wouldn't be a mystery if we told you, red," Sirius said, and at the same time Peter said, "Yes."

Sirius stepped on his toes.

"What do you want?" Lily sighed. "Shouldn't you be worshipping the ground James Potter walks on?"

"No idea where the slimy git has gotten to," said Sirius, glancing in the room. "Now, can we see the deer? It _is_ a deer, right? Not a doe?"

There was the sound of hooves on the floor, and Prongs was suddenly nudging his head around Lily's body. Sirius grinned at the almost-glaring look on his best mate's face.

"Such interesting coloring!" Remus exclaimed from the mirror.

"Does he have a name?" Peter sniggered.

"Sod off," Lily told them. "And Remus, I thought you above this. Where are you, anyway?"

"Visiting my mum. She's very ill, you know."

Lily's voice softened. "Of course, I'm sorry. I forgot."

"That's quite alright."

"So, er…" Sirius said slowly, "you, er, planning on…..letting Pr-the deer, go?"

"What's it to you, Black?"

"Well, I've seen this deer around. He's cool. I don't want him subjected to the girls' dorm forever."

Lily crossed her arms. "And what if I don't want Prongs subjected to you?"

"Prongs?"

All three Marauders started cracking up. Lily went red.

"Yes, well, I didn't think Rudolph or Blitzen would be appropriate for such a nice deer."

They were still laughing. Lily felt the need to defend herself.

"Potter will be really ticked I named a deer after him, huh? Because I think of him as an animal anyway…."

For some reason, Peter's eyes widened. "Oh, but you said you like this deer."

"I do," Lily said in surprise.

"And you like James," Sirius said, smirking. The deer tried nudging him with his nose. "You like us, too, don't deny it."

"Seriously? You're going for that angle?"

"Seriously? You say 'seriously' in the presence of a guy named Sirius?"

Lily sighed. "Will you boys move? I have a deer to take down a slide so I can let him go."

"Going stag, yeah?" asked Sirius.

Everyone groaned, but for some odd reason Lily found herself smiling. "Don't follow me, Black, and maybe I'll admit that I might like the lot of you."

And in compromise of the situation, Sirius and Peter didn't make it known that they followed her at a distance.

* * *

Lily stood by the lake with Prongs beside her. He hadn't ran off when they got outside like she'd expected him too, but followed her to the edge of the lake.

"Thank you for being my friend, Prongs," Lily said after a while, her voice oddly quiet. "I wish deer were among the pets we were allowed to have at the school."

Prongs nudged her elbow with his antlers.

Lily laughed. "Yes, I know you already kind of live here, but it's not the same."

He nudged her again.

"Stop it Prongs. I'm trying to be sentimental. This is where we go our separate ways and I never get to see you again."

She glanced at him, and it almost looked like he was shaking his head. Lily grinned. "What? You'll come back to see me? Don't you have some forest mates to play with?"

Lily knew people thought she was crazy for trying to hold a one sided conversation with a deer, but the stag really did seem to understand her in a way her friends never did.

"Why couldn't I have met you in my first year, then?" Lily demanded. "This is my last year at Hogwarts and I'll never get to see you again."

The stag actually looked down at his hooves. Lily smiled again.

"Oh, don't be like that you silly creature. Now go on, I've got classes this morning. Just promise me you'll be careful and not get near anymore wolves. You had some pretty nasty scratches on that leg, not to mention the twisted ankle."

The stag gave her a reproachful look.

Lily smiled, vaguely this time. "Go on Prongs," she whispered. "Go on."

He seemed to know she meant it. Prongs nuzzled her hand once more and turned to gallop away. Lily watched for a second before she turned to walk the other way.

But she didn't realize that Prongs wasn't going back to the forest, so when she turned again to yell a final goodbye, she was met with the shocking sight of James Potter standing in the exact spot she'd just left the stag. He was looking down and rubbing his wrist….his _left_ wrist, which would have been the same place _Prongs_ had twisted his ankle.

"BLOODY MERLIN!"

James looked up, bewildered, but he couldn't have been more shocked than Lily.

Everything made sense now. James's nickname was Prongs. A random deer just happened to show up, and actually responded to Lily instead of staying away. That also explained why the Marauders (that were present) seemed so interested in the stag's welfare. Remus had remarked of the deer's 'interesting coloring' which must have been the darker rings around his eyes that were so obviously James's glasses. (Lily could've kicked herself for lover looking _that_ , especially with Professor McGonagall).

Other things started falling into place too. _Padfoot_. Several students had remarked over the last couple years of there being a big _black_ dog on the grounds. _Wormtail_. Peter had always seemed rather mousy to Lily. But _Moony…_.

Then it clicked. The girls wanted to take a stroll the night before because the _full moon_ had been so beautiful. That also explained why Remus was absent so much with varying excuses regarding a sick mother, and also why he so often found himself in the infirmary.

Remus Lupin was a werewolf, and the other three Marauders were…

Lily had seen the animagus registry. The only person she had known on the list was her transfiguration professor. So that meant that James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew were all _unregistered animagus._

"You alright Evans?"

James was still rubbing his wrist, and there were cuts up and down his arm, but none of this he seemed to notice.

"Evans?" He said again.

Lily looked up at him, her mouth agape. " _Prongs._ "

* * *

"You are the first person to ever find out our secret."

These words were odd, coming from Sirius Black. When Lily thought of Black, she thought of pranks and fun. She never thought that he'd ever say one serious sentence to her, despite his name.

The four Marauders and Lily were sitting in the Gryffindor common room late that night, each seated on the floor around the fire. Lily had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a mug of tea in her hands.

Remus hadn't gotten out of the hospital until about half an hour earlier, and it had taken another twenty-five minutes for the rest of the common room to empty. Lily felt odd, being down there so late with no one but the Marauders.

"I suppose you'll want to go tell Dumbledore to kick me out," Remus said.

Lily's head shot up. "Of course not!" She said sharply. "Remus, why would you ever think that?"

"Because….I'm a monster."

"Here we go again," Sirius muttered.

"Merlin, Remus," Lily said, shaking her head. "A monster? You're a bloody prefect! And you're one of my closest friends. You're not a monster. You can't help what happened."

"I hurt James," Remus said. He knew it was true. Though James had twisted his ankle (or his wrist, actually), there were scratches all over his arm.

"No you didn't," James snapped. "Padfoot did when he tried to help me up, the prat."

Remus was looking down at his lap, so Lily got up and sat beside him, where she then laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his middle. "Would I do this with a monster, Remus?" Lily whispered.

"Honestly, she'd probably be more scared of us," Sirius added.

Lily nodded, but didn't move otherwise. "Well, I must admit, I like dogs and deer, but I am quite scared of rats. So Peter…"

Everyone laughed. Peter's ears turned red.

Remus put his right arm around Lily, though it kind of hurt to do so. The day after was always the worst, but it was nice to know that someone outside the Marauders was okay with what he was.

"Better watch out, Prongs. Looks like she prefers sleeping with the dogs."

Lily stuck her tongue out at him. "Stuff it, _Padfoot_."

Lily never thought she'd like these boys, apart from Remus, as more than acquaintances. But finding out how sweet and sensitive they actually were, and how brave to have done what they did, Lily couldn't help but like them. She only wished she had realized it sooner. She could've had such fun with these guys...and kept them out of trouble.

"I hope you boys realize I'll be on your tails from now on." Lily grinned.

James, Sirius, and Peter all groaned. Remus, however, smirked. "I don't technically have a tail."

Lily grinned. "Well, that only makes sense. You're the one that knows how to behave, eh Moony?"

"Oi! She gets our lingo! She's turning into one of us! Stop her, Prongs! Stop her!" Sirius had grabbed the front of James's robes and they were almost nose to nose.

"Stop being a drama queen, Paddy," Peter said. Lily thought she'd heard Peter Pettigrew say more words tonight than she ever had in the seven years they'd gone to school together.

"My heart can't take this treachery!" Sirius (dramatically) put the back of his hand to his forehead and made as if he fainted.

Lily laid her head in Remus's lap. He glanced down at her in amusement.

Lily smirked up at him. "Now you may have notes that are actually correct."

Remus let out a shaky laugh. "You've taken notes, then? When can I borrow them?"

Shaking her head, Lily said, "Any time you want. But _only_ when you're feeling better. Can't believe no one ever told me you were in the infirmary." She conjured up some of the most beautiful flowers she could think of and handed them to Remus. "I'm excellent with flowers."

* * *

Remus was too tired to stay downstairs much longer, so Peter and Sirius (with a meaningful look towards James) helped him up to bed. None of them came back down.

Lily now sat awkwardly on one of the chairs by the fire. James sat across from her, looking tense.

"I suppose you're going to yell at me now that we're alone?" He said finally.

Lily smiled. "Actually, no, I wasn't going to do that, _Prongs_. You spent a night in my dormitory. You should know me better than that by now.

James snorted. "Well, seven years of fighting as humans has told me otherwise. You always hated the real me."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Maybe the dozen or so times you told me you hated me?"

Lily shook her head. "You never understood, James. I never hated you; I hated what you did. I hated that you picked on kids for no reason. I hated that you had it in for my best friend-"

"Yeah, well, look how _that_ turned out."

"-and I hated that you could always get a rise out of me. I hated that I couldn't just let anything you said roll off my back. But I loved it when you stood up for me, no matter how hypocritical it may have seemed at the time. I loved it when you asked me out and I turned you down….it made me feel special, that I was the only girl you did that with, constantly. I loved how you and Sirius befriended little Peter Pettigrew way back when you were first years and he didn't have any friends. I loved how protective you were of Remus, even when he wasn't there. Actually, you were protective of all your friends, you always have been…"

"Do you have a point to all of this?" James asked in an odd tone.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I didn't lie when I said I liked you, James."

The look on his face made Lily grin. It was a look she'd seen on Prongs's face just the night before when she and her two friends had happened upon him. Like a deer caught in the headlights. The situation was almost comical.

"You...like me?"

"Of course I do, you bloody idiot! Almost everything I said I hated about you, you don't do anymore! But you still do everything I said I loved about you. And let's just face it, we were meant to be together from the start. I think I've known that since we did patronuses in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Mine's a doe, remember?"

James had a small smile on his face now, but he was still looking down. "So you've liked me for how long now?"

"Prat." Lily rolled her eyes. "Well come here, then. Don't make me wait all night."

Grinning, James stood, and in one swift motion had Lily off her feet and in his arms. There was wolf-whistling from the stairs, and Lily had to pull away from her first kiss with James Potter because she was laughing so hard.

James swore and let Lily back on her feet. "I am going to _kill_ you, Padfoot!"

Lily laughed. She was suddenly very glad she took a chance and broke the rules the night before...

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Again, I don't know if anyone's had this idea, but I thought it would be really cute and I hope you did too! More James & Lily stories to come, I promise :)**

 **I don't own anything you may recognize! All rights go to the beautiful and talented JKR.**

 **God bless you all!**

 **-Daddysgirl11**


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